Fig. 2: Activation of BNC2 neurons by feeding.
From: Leptin-activated hypothalamic BNC2 neurons acutely suppress food intake
a,c, Representative pSTAT3 (a) and FOS (c) immunostaining in male mice under three conditions: overnight fasting (FD), fasting followed by 3-h refeeding with chow (Ref) and fasting followed by leptin injection with 3-h wait (Lep) (n = 4 mice per group). Arrowheads indicate double-positive cells. b,d, Percentage of pSTAT3/mCherry (b) and FOS/mCherry (d) double-positive cells in mCherry-positive cells (n = 4 mice per group, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)). e, Spontaneous APs of ARC BNC2 neurons from overnight-fasted adult male BNC2-Cre mice injected with AAV-DIO-GFP. Leptin was added at the time indicated. f,g, Spontaneous AP frequency (f) and resting membrane potential (RMP, g) before, during and after leptin application (n = 17 cells from four mice per group, Friedman test). h–k, Calcium recordings from male mice expressing GCaMP6s in BNC2 neurons exposed to an inedible plastic tube, chow or PB (h). i, Average calcium traces in fasted mice aligned to presentation (left) and fluorescence quantification (0–300 s) (right, n = 8 mice per group, paired Wilcoxon test). j, Average calcium traces in mice fed ad libitum aligned to presentation (left) and quantification (0–300 s) (right, n = 8 mice per group, paired Student’s t-test or Wilcoxon test). k, Individual calcium trace from an overnight-fasted mouse presented with PB. l,m, Average calcium traces in fasted mice presented with PB, before (l) and after (m) eating, aligned to eating (left) and quantification (right, n = 8 mice per group, paired Student’s t-test). n,o, Recordings from fasted male mice presented with chow inside or outside a container (n). o, Average calcium traces aligned to presentation (left) and quantification (0–100 and 500–600 s) (right, n = 8 mice per group, paired Student’s t-test or Wilcoxon test). Data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. NS, not significant; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001. Statistical details in Source Data. Scale bars, 50 μm. Illustrations in h and n were created using BioRender (https://biorender.com).
